Custom Branded New Zealand Drops All Non-filter Cotton Masks

On Monday 17th January 2022 Custom Branded stopped branding all non-filter cotton face masks and suggested other branders do the same.

With recent reporting scoring some cotton face masks blocking as few as 26.5% of particles Custom Branded has stopped selling all other brands they once stocked, effective immediately. “Our own supplied masks have always had filter pockets however we were also using several other brands under the impression they were significantly more effective than they are,” says Daniel Sharp of Custom Branded.

The remaining variant supports pm2.5 filters, which are available from various outlets and can be replaced with surgical mask material cut to shape at a push.

With a pm2.5 filter cotton masks are reported as blocking up to 60% of particles or more, beating out surgical masks which block 38.5%. However Daniel stresses that "fit is also extremely important, with surgical masks, simply knotting the loops will tighten the fit and enhance the performance,".

Even though Custom Branded's own offering can be effective when paired with a filter, they are now advising clients who spend periods of time in high risk areas to swap out to n95 or p2 masks. They have previously published an article to help those with home made masks to improve their level of protection however are advising anyone with a filter incompatible mask to move to a different mask as soon as practicable.

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